Supan v. Griffin

In Supan v. Griffin, 238 Ga. App. 404, 406 (519 S.E.2d 22) (1999), the Court concluded that issues of fact existed as to whether the defendant dog owner had superior knowledge of his dog's vicious propensity. He owned several dogs, and less than a month before the attack on plaintiffs' son, he had told another neighbor "'to do whatever was necessary to keep the dogs from attacking.'" Id. at 404-405. Those dogs had previously "'viciously attacked'" the neighbor's dog and had threatened the neighbor with "'bared fangs, vicious growls and attack behavior.'" Id. at 405. Similarly, in Thurmond v. Saffo, 238 Ga. App. 687 (520 S.E.2d 43) (1999) (physical precedent only), the Court concluded that factual issues existed as to the defendants' knowledge of their dog's vicious propensity, since the evidence showed they knew the dog "had tried to attack another person and had scolded him for this behavior." Id. at 688.